Receptacle for accommodating at least one pencil

ABSTRACT

A receptacle for accommodating at least one pencil, comprising an inner space and a first wall element that delimits the inner space. The first wall element has a first connecting section that is located inside the inner space, and at the free end of this connecting section, an end section is to be folded back onto a second element that is adjacent to the first connecting section.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention concerns a receptacle for accommodating at least onepencil, comprising an internal space and a first wall element forming aboundary of the internal space.

Receptacles of the above-indicated kind are known. They generally haveperipherally extending edges of at least two millimeters in width, alongwhich individual parts of the receptacle are welded, the individualparts usually involving a cover and a bottom. As the edges are sometimescomparatively sharp, they cause problems when handling the receptacleand even involve a risk of injury. In addition they are not veryattractive from aesthetic points of view.

The object of the invention is to develop the receptacle of the kind setforth in the opening part of this specification, in such a way thathandling of the receptacle is improved, any risk of injury is eliminatedand the receptacle is aesthetically attractive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention the foregoing object is attained wherein afirst wall element has a first connecting portion which is in theinternal space and at the free end of which an end portion is bent overtowards a second wall element which is adjacent to the first connectingportion.

In other words in accordance with the invention there are provided twomatters for attaining the specified object: on the one hand an edgewhich is at the free end of the end portion of the first connectingportion is arranged within the internal space of the receptacle. As aresult, at least when the receptacle is closed, the edge does notinterfere either with handling or the aesthetic effect. Any risk ofinjury is also eliminated, when the container is closed. Secondlyhowever it is also provided in accordance with the invention that thefree end of said end portion or the edge does not project for exampleinto the internal space but is bent over on to the second wall element.The consequence of that arrangement of the edge is that the edge cannotcause any interference in any fashion. More specifically, as it istowards the adjacent wall element, it does not adversely affect handlingof the receptacle, for example when removing a pencil. In addition,alignment of the edge with the adjacent wall element excludes a risk ofinjury because a user cannot come into contact with the edge at all.Finally, the fact that the edge is ‘concealed’ provides an improvementin the aesthetic aspect.

It should be expressly pointed out at this juncture that ‘bent over’ isintended to embrace any conceivable kind of deflection, in particular‘folding down’.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention it isprovided that the first connecting portion forms with the second wallelement a gap which is delimited by the end portion.

In other words, this configuration provides that an edge which in factin principle involves in particular a risk of injury forms the end of agap and is thus arranged to be inaccessible for the fingers of a user.That obviates any risk of injury. In that way moreover the edge whichunder some circumstances is aesthetically not very attractive is‘concealed’ in the gap.

In a further preferred feature there is provided a connecting device forconnecting the first connecting portion to the second wall element.

In this embodiment the first and second wall elements serve to ‘holdtogether’ the receptacle, wherein—as discussed in detailhereinbefore—any edges present on end portions are arranged in such away that they do not interfere with handling, they do not involve anyrisk of injury and they do not have a disadvantageous effect onaesthetics.

In accordance with the invention the connecting device is preferably aweld. Therefore it is possible for the two wall elements to be connectedtogether in a manner which is particularly simple and which can beautomated.

In accordance with a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention,that which has been described hereinbefore in relation to the first wallelement also applies to the second wall element. More specifically, inaccordance therewith it is provided that the second wall element has asecond connecting portion which is in the internal space of thereceptacle.

In this configuration of the invention, the same advantages are achievedas is the case with the first connecting portion, in regard to any edgesof the second connecting portion.

It will be appreciated that it can also be provided in thisconfiguration of the invention that, at a free end of the secondconnecting portion, an end portion is bent over towards the first wallelement. Once again the same advantages are achieved as are discussedhereinbefore.

In accordance with a particularly preferred embodiment of the inventionthe first and second wall elements are formed in one piece with eachother.

In that respect, for the purposes of assembly of the receptacle, the twowall elements are ‘folded’ towards each other. Overall, that makes itpossible to achieve a minimisation in respect of connecting devicesbecause in fact the two wall elements are already connected together onone side.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention at least onewall element is formed by a foil or sheet, further preferably by a deepdrawing foil.

That configuration simplifies manufacture.

It will be appreciated that the wall thickness of the wall elements canin principle be of any value. It depends on the respective specificrequirements involved. Preferably it is between 200 and 400 μm.

Equally the material of the wall elements can in principle be anymaterial. In regard to simplifying the manufacturing process and inregard to pricing, it is provided in accordance with an embodiment ofthe invention that at least one wall element is of plastic material,preferably thermoplastic or thermosetting plastic material, furtherpreferably PET or PVC.

Particularly when one of the wall elements or all wall elements areproduced by deep drawing, subsequent stamping out of a ‘cutting pattern’for the receptacle may be required. In addition however it is alsopossible to conceive of a stamping operation or a cutting operation,within the context of other manufacturing processes.

Therefore in accordance with a particularly preferred embodiment of theinvention it is provided that a boundary edge produced by a severingoperation such as for example stamping or cutting is disposed at thefree end of the first connecting portion.

In other words, in accordance with this configuration of the invention,in particular a stamped or cut edge forming a particularly high risk ofinjury is ‘concealed’ by bending over towards the adjacent wall element,thereby achieving the advantages described hereinbefore.

Particularly in this configuration with wall elements which are formedin one piece with each other, the invention provides at least onebending hinge for connecting adjacent wall elements.

Such a bending hinge simplifies further processing for example of a‘cutting pattern’ to afford the three-dimensional pencil receptaclebecause the bending hinge simplifies bending over the wall elements toafford the desired three-dimensional shape.

In order to impart stability to the receptacle, a particularly preferredembodiment of the invention provides at least one stiffening rib whichis further preferably in the shape of a bay configuration. Such a bayconfiguration is more specifically particularly easy to produce inparticular in the context of a deep drawing process. In contrast to theprovision of a stiffening rib by a corresponding increase in wallthickness, the design afforded by a bay configuration also saves onmaterial.

In order to be able to arrange a plurality of pencils in the receptaclein a space-saving manner in accordance with the invention there isprovided an intermediate partition.

In that case, in accordance with the invention, the intermediatepartition is preferably made in one piece with the wall elements.

In other words the invention—as also in the other configurations—even inthe case of a design configuration with a partition, provides aone-piece ‘cutting pattern’ from which a three-dimensional receptacle isafforded by a procedure involving bending over or folding and connectingof connecting portions. In particular in that way it is possible toautomate the manufacturing process.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Finally the invention provides preferably at least one latching devicefor at least temporarily connecting two wall elements to each other.Such a latching device can be provided additionally or alternatively tothe connecting device, in particular the welding. In particular it canserve for temporarily holding together two wall elements which are to bewelded together, and this simplifies the welding operation.

The invention is described in greater detail hereinafter with furtherfeatures by means of a preferred embodiment with reference to theaccompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 shows a cutting pattern or development of a particularlypreferred embodiment of the receptacle according to the invention,

FIG. 2 shows a diagrammatic perspective view of the receptacle of FIG.1,

FIG. 3 shows a diagrammatic sectional view of a detail of the receptacleof FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 shows a diagrammatic perspective detail view of the receptacle ofFIG. 1, and

FIG. 5 diagrammatically shows a latching device of the receptacle ofFIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In accordance with the development, shown in FIG. 1, of the receptaclein accordance with a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention,the following elements are provided:

-   -   a front wall 10, a rear wall 12, side elements 14, 16, 18, 20        and 22, a closure flap 24 and an intermediate partition 26.

The above-specified elements are all formed in one piece with eachother, more specifically by deep drawing a PET foil or sheet of a wallthickness of 250 μm. Provided between the specified individual elementsare respective bending hinges 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40, whereby‘folding’ to assemble the receptacle as shown in FIG. 2 is simplified.The bending hinges are each in the shape of a bay configuration producedin the course of the deep drawing operation, as is shown in section inFIG. 3.

After the deep drawing operation which is performed on webs of foil, theindividual receptacle cutting patterns are separated from therespectively preceding and following ones by stamping. In addition, astamping operation is also effected at lateral boundaries. The stampededges which are produced as a result are identified by references 42,44, 46, 48 and 50.

FIG. 3 diagrammatically shows how the stamped edges 48 and 50 are‘concealed’ in accordance with the illustrated embodiment of theinvention. As can be seen more specifically from FIG. 3 the sideelements 20 and 22, starting from the bending hinges 38 and 40respectively, are firstly arranged to converge towards each other, inwhich case they subsequently form with each other a gap 52 which isdelimited by the stamped edges 48 and 50 which form a first connectingportion.

As a result of that arrangement the stamped edges 48 and 50 on the onehand come to lie in an internal space 54 of the receptacle, whereby theyare not visible from the outside and therefore do not interfere with theoverall aesthetic impression. In addition the stamped edges 48 and 50also do not involve any risk of injury because they are each bent overtowards the respective adjacent side element.

FIG. 3 diagrammatically shows only the connection of the two sideelements 20 and 22 to each other. It will be appreciated that the samealso applies for the connection of the side elements 14 and 18 to eachother. It will be noted that in the region of the intermediate partition26 the gap formed there is delimited by the stamped edge 46 and theintermediate partition 26 because there is no corresponding stamped edgepresent in that region on the intermediate partition 42.

FIG. 4 diagrammatically shows stiffening means 56 and 58which—approximately comparably to the bending hinges—are in the form ofbay configurations. Welds 60 and 62 joining the wall elements involvedtogether are provided in the stiffening means. In that way the welds 60and 62 are also virtually ‘concealed’ so that they do not adverselyaffect the overall aesthetic impression. Viewed from the internal space54 the stiffening bay configurations are in the shape of ribs.

FIG. 5 diagrammatically shows a latching device which is composed inparticular of projections 64, 66 and 68. As shown in FIG. 5 theprojection 64 is somewhat shorter than the projection 68 and at its freeend has a further projection 68 which in the latched condition engagesbehind the projection 66. The projection 64 corresponds to an outwardlydisposed latching groove whereas the projection 66 corresponds to aninwardly disposed latching groove.

Although this is not shown the projections can each be arranged forexample between the stiffening means 56 and 58 on the side elements 20and 22 respectively.

They serve to connect the two side elements 20 and 22 together at leastuntil the welds 60 and 62 have been formed. That manner of temporarilyconnecting the side elements 20 and 22 together considerably simplifiesthe welding operation.

The features of the invention which are disclosed in the foregoingdescription, the claims and the drawing can be essential bothindividually and also in any combinations for implementing the inventionin its various embodiments.

1-19. (canceled)
 20. A receptacle for accommodating at least one pencilcomprising a plurality of wall elements defining an internal space, afirst wall element having a first connecting portion and a first endportion within the internal space, a second wall element having a secondconnecting portion and a second end portion within the internal space,wherein the first end portion is bent over toward the second connectingportion and the second end portion is bent over toward the firstconnection portion, so that the first and second connecting portionsdefine with the bent over first and second end portions a gap.
 21. Areceptacle as claimed in claim 20, further including a connecting devicelocated at least in part within the gap for connecting the firstconnecting portion to the second connecting portion.
 22. A receptacle asclaimed in claim 21, wherein the connecting device is a weld bead.
 23. Areceptacle as set forth in claim 20, wherein at least one wall elementis formed of foil.
 24. A receptacle as set forth in claim 23, whereinthe foil is a deep drawing foil.
 25. A receptacle as set forth in claim20, wherein the first and the second wall elements have a wall thicknessof between 200 and 400 μm.
 26. A receptacle as set forth in claim 20,wherein one wall element is formed of a plastic material.
 27. Areceptacle as set forth in claim 26, wherein the plastic material is PETor PVC.
 28. A receptacle as set forth in claim 20, wherein the first andsecond wall elements are provided with at least one bending hinge.
 29. Areceptacle as set forth in claim 20, wherein the first and second wallelements are provided with at least one stiffening rib.
 30. A receptacleas set forth in claim 29, wherein at least one stiffening rib is formedof a bay configuration.
 31. A receptacle as set forth in claim 20,further including at least one latching device for at least temporarilyconnecting the first and second wall elements together.